As an article in Capital Press noted, there is greater demand for using livestock for targeted grazing to reduce wildfire fuel loads as well as address issues like invasive weeds. However, there is more demand than supply as the companies offering these services are few.
One of the companies featured in the article is Healing Hooves, a company run by long-time Holistic Management practitioner and educator, Craig Madsen, and his wife, Sue Lani. Craig has over 25 years of experience in range management and focuses specifically on weed control, vegetation removal, and ecosystem management utilizing goats. They have approximately 250 goats and they can treat about 1-6 acre a day depending on the type of terrain. They charge $700-1000/day for that service with a three-day minimum and work predominantly in Washington but also in Oregon.
Also mentioned in the Capital Press article is Stacy Davies, another Holistic Management practitioner who manages Roaring Springs Ranch in southeastern Oregon. He is involved in a BLM pilot project for outcome based grazing which allows for some flexibility in grazing management determined by the outcomes achieved in the grazing management. He notes that there is definitely opposition by some parties on using prescribed grazing as a land management tool on public lands. But, the potential for treating more land with more flexible policies is needed if we are addressing these multiple issues (i.e., fuel load reduction, invasive weeds, desertification, etc.) that have been shown to be addressed by good grazing practices.
To learn more about how holistic planned grazing has helped improve landscapes, visit HMI's Soil and Conservation page.